An overview of the Solar Radiation tools

The solar radiation analysis tools enable you to map and analyze the effects of the sun over a geographic area for specific time periods.

You can perform solar radiation analysis for a landscape or specific location using two methods:

The Area Solar Radiation tool is used to calculate the insolation across an entire landscape. The calculations are repeated for each location in the input topographic surface, producing insolation maps for an entire geographic area.

The Points Solar Radiation tool is used to calculate the amount of radiant energy for a given location. Locations can be stored as point features or as x,y coordinates in a location table. Solar radiation calculations can be performed for specified locations only.

For diagnostic purposes, you can use the Solar Radiation Graphics tool to create graphic representations of the visible sky (viewshed map), the sun's position in the sky across a period of time (sunmap), and the sectors of the sky that influence the amount of incoming solar radiation (skymap). Conceptually, these "maps" are used internally during analysis to calculate the total amount of solar radiation for a particular location or area.